This application incorporates by reference of Taiwan application Serial No. 090207781, filed May 11, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a SIM card connector for installing in a cellular phone, and more particularly to a dual SIM card connector for installing in a cellular phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well-known, chip or smart cards are used for various purposes, for instance as prepaid telephone cards. Such a telephone card allows the purchaser to insert the card into a public telephone and then make telephone calls equivalent to the amount of money paid for said telephone card. Chip cards are also used to identify members of, for instance, a health organization and so on. SIM cards derive their name form the words xe2x80x9csubscriber identity modulexe2x80x9d. SIM cards are frequently used in so-called cell phones, for instance to identify a subscriber of the respective telephone company.
For miniaturization, particularly in the field of mobile telephones, it is an object of the present invention to make a contacting device for a SIM card as small as possible. Of particular importance is a small thickness or height of the contacting device. Preferably, a contacting device should be barely larger than the SIM card itself. Furthermore, the contacting device should be of simple construction and easy to operate. Misalignment or wrong orientation of the SIM card should be avoided.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional SIM card connector is shown. The conventional SIM card connector 100 includes a connecting base 102, clips 104a, 104b, 104c and 104d. The clips 104a and 104b are positioned at the left side of the top surface 106 of the connecting base 102 and the clips 104c and 104d are positioned at the right side of the top surface 106 of the connecting base 102. The connecting base 102 typically includes 6 recesses 110 and 6 contact points 112. Each of the contact points 112 is positioned at each corresponding recesses 110. The contact points 112 are electrically coupled to the six exposing points 114 of the SIM card 108. The recesses typically include a VCC (supply voltage) recess, a RST (reset) recess, a CLK (Clock Signal) recess, an I/O (Data Input/Output) recess, a GND (Ground) recess and a VPP (Programming Voltage) recess. Correspondingly, the contact points 112 include a VCC contact point, a RST contact point, a CLK contact point, an I/O contact point, a GND contact point and a VPP contact point.
The VCC contact point, the RST contact point, the CLK contact point, the I/O contact point, the GND contact point and the VPP contact point are respectively positioned at the VCC recess, the RST recess, the CLK recess, the I/O recess, the GND recess and the VPP recess. The exposing points 114 of the SIM card 108 include a VCC exposing point, a RST exposing point, a CLK exposing point, an I/O exposing point, a GND exposing point, and a VPP exposing point. Referring to FIG. 1, while the SIM card 108 is inserted into the SIM card connector 100 along the arrow 150, the exposing points 114 of the SIM card 108 are electrically coupled to the contact points 112 of the connecting base 102 and the clips 104a, 104b, 104c, and 104d latch the two sides of the SIM card 108 and firmly attach the SIM card 108 on the SIM card connector 100. The contact points 112 extend from the SIM card connector 100 and are electrically coupled to the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) of the cellular phone.
The conventional single SIM card connector as shown in FIG. 1 further includes 6 contact spring leaves (not shown). For people use more than two SIM cards, a single SIM card connector can be damaged by the frequent changes of SIM cards. Thus, a dual SIM card connector is developed. The conventional dual SIM card connector lays the two SIM card connecting bases parallel to each other and thus requires 12 contact spring leaves.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a dual SIM card connector with common contact spring leaves, which is more cost-effective and minimized.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a dual SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card connector for holding a first SIM card and a second SIM card, is disclosed. The dual SIM card connector includes a housing and an inter-layer. The inter-layer is inside the housing, wherein the inter-layer comprises a first surface and a second surface, which are opposite to each other, and wherein between the first surface of the inter-layer and the housing, there forms a first slot for inserting a first SIM card and between the second surface of the inter-layer and the housing, there forms a second slot for inserting a second SIM card. The inter-layer comprises a common recess, a plurality of first recesses, a plurality of second recesses, a common contact spring leaf, a plurality of first contact spring leaves, and a plurality of second contact spring leaves. The common recess is on the first surface of the inter-layer and has a through hole. The first recesses are on the first surface of the inter-layer. The second recesses are on the second surface of the inter-layer. The common contact spring leaf is mounted in the common recess and electrically coupled to both the first SIM card and the second SIM card through the through hole. The first contact spring leaves are mounted in the first recesses and electrically coupled to the first SIM card. The second contact spring leaves are mounted in the second recesses and electrically coupled to the second SIM card.
A dual SIM card connector for holding a first SIM card and a second SIM card and installing in a cellular phone is disclosed. The dual SIM card comprises a housing and an inter-layer. The inter-layer is inside the housing. The inter-layer comprises a first surface and a second surface, which are opposite to each other. Between the first surface of the inter-layer and the housing, there forms a first slot for inserting a first SIM card and between the second surface of the inter-layer and the housing, there forms a second slot for inserting a second SIM card. The inter-layer comprises: a common recess on the first surface of the inter-layer, wherein the common recess has a through hole; a plurality of first recesses on the first surface of the inter-layer; a plurality of second recesses on the second surface of the inter-layer; a common GND contact spring leaf mounted in the common recess and electrically coupled to both the first SIM card and the second SIM card through the through hole; a plurality of first contact spring leaves mounted in the first recesses and electrically coupled to the first SIM card; a plurality of second contact spring leaves mounted in the second recesses and electrically coupled to the second SIM card; and an indentation facilitating pushing out the first SIM card and the second SIM card.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.